1. Field of the Invention
The field of the invention relates generally to educational board games, and more particularly to an educational and entertaining question and answer board game directed to pertinent biographical data relating specifically to each of the fifty states of the United States of America.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Question and answer board games relating to geography and a wide variety of other subjects are well known. Questions to be answered by the players in these games are primarily randomly determined by manually operable spinners configured as rotatable indicating arrows. Accordingly, question selection is determined solely by the turning force manually applied to the spinner by a player. Further, questions relating to known educational board games directed to the fifty states of the United States are generally restricted to geography.
Various question and answer board games have been utilized in the prior art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,577,485 to Lardon sets forth a question and answer board game having a game track imprinted thereon for receiving markers of the game players for movement therealong in response to correctly answered questions appearing on cards pulled from a plurality of decks randomly selected by throws of a die. Each deck of cards relates to a distinct question category including history, geography, art, literature, theater and cinema, as well as miscellaneous.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,834,389 to Coffman et al discloses another board game having an outline of the continental USA imprinted on it. A principal and several secondary motorcycle routes are marked within the continent to define a path for a simulated motorcycle race across the country. Order of play and movement along the paths is controlled by a spinner on the board and directions given on cards selected from one of a plurality of decks and marked by a token shaped as a motorcycle.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,940,239 to Tuttle illustrates another question and answer board game wherein a playing area defining an endless path is marked on its planar surface. The playing area is subdivided into a plurality of smaller areas which each have an endless playing path and a separate set of question and answer cards therefor. The question and answer cards relate to missing words of quotations or definitions. Order of play and movement in each subdivision is controlled by a die and recorded by colored position markers in response to correct answers to the questions asked on the randomly selected cards.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,984,805 to Medlock discloses still another question and answer board game comprising a plurality of separate playing paths thereon (one for each player). Order of play and movement along the paths is determined by rolls of a die. Movement along each path is recorded by a marker and enabled by correct answers to questions appearing on cards from a plurality of decks selected randomly by a spinner mounted on the board. The game is provided with a plurality of interchangeable faces for the subject category selector acting in conjunction with the spinner, as well as a separate set of question and answer cards for each interchangeable face. A timer is provided to limit the response period to the questions asked.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,988,108 to Shepard shows yet another question and answer board game which is restricted to geography and primarily to the geography of the continental United States, i.e. the states thereof. However, the game is also applicable to the geography of other regions, continents, as well as the entire world itself. The region selected is marked on the board and surrounded by a player travel path. Movement along the path is marked by player tokens and enabled by correct answers to questions appearing on cards randomly selected from a plurality of decks by a rotatable pointer mounted on the board.
As such, it may be appreciated that there continues to be a need for a new and improved question and answer board game which addresses both the problems of ease of use, portability, and effectiveness in construction, and in this respect, the present invention fulfills this need.